The reported number of lawfully held civilian firearms recorded in registers accessible to authorities. Where possible, this includes firearms held by civilian entities, such as firearms dealers, collectors, museums, private security institutions, and so on.

These can be held in centralised gun registries, jurisdictional record-keeping systems, or in transfer registers kept by licensed gun dealers.

Although the terms 'registration' and 'licensing' are sometimes used interchangeably, registration properly refers to keeping a record of the object as it moves between owners (registered firearm, registered vehicle), while a parallel system of licensing determines the qualification of the person (licensed gun owner, driver, pilot).